Meow O Ween

By Stephanie Barr

Spooky, scary, otherworldly, magical...
You can find all kinds of stories in this collection of haunting cat stories for children.
And if you think the perfect solution to a frightening dilemma or phantom is a kitty or two, well, you might just be right.
But don't make them angry...
Discover all sorts of tales in this collection of haunting children's stories for the kid in us all.

All proceeds from this book will be donated to St. Jude's Children's Hospital

Including artwork, poetry, and/or stories from:

Stephanie Barr
Knixolate Bar
Rose Campbell
Jocelyn Dex
Ken Goudsward
Jane Jago
Debbie Manber Kupfer
RC Larlham
USA Today Bestselling author Lily Luchesi
Jen Ponce
DM Rasch
F Stephan
Donna Marie West

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephanie Barr
• Release date: Sep 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005208936

Stephanie Barr

Although Stephanie Barr is a slave to three children and a slew of cats, she actually leads a double life as a part time novelist and full time rocket scientist. People everywhere have learned to watch out for fear of becoming part of her stories. Beware! You might be next!

Book preview

Meow O Ween

Compiled by Stephanie Barr

Smashwords Edition

Lily's Big Adventure, Gypsy's Night, Zombie Master, Special Magic, Bad Luck, Little Lamb, Dria in the Shadow Realm, Bumblecat, Fate, Night of the Cat, Protection of Shadows, Sparkle's Scary Night,Princess MacKenzie, Poe's Kitten, Tiger the Tom, & Death Stalks, Copyright 2021 Stephanie Barr

Angel Kitty and Adventure Kitty Copyright 2019 Stephanie Barr

I Want to Travel to the Stars, Copyright 2021 F Stephan

Cat Got Your Tongue Copyright 2021 Lily Luchesi

The Nine Ghosts of Buttons Copyright 2021 Ken Goudsward

Tiger, Tiger Copyright 2021 Debbie Manber Kupfer

Little Blind Cat Copyright 2021 RC Larlham

Mother's Cat and The Night Cat Copyright 2021 Jane Jago

Little Snoop Copyright 2021 Donna Marie West

Practical Magic Copyright 2021 by DM Rasch

Cover and additional illustrations by Jocelyn Dex, Dexpress Covers

Illustrations by Knixolate Bar

Illustrations by Jane Jago

Illustrations by Rose Campbell

Illustrations by DM Rasch

Illustration by Jen Ponce

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

Dedications

Stephanie Barr: For Luna Simmons, my children, Stephanie, Alex, and Roxy, and my grandson, Landon. And to all the children lost or harmed by Covid.

Jocelyn Dex: For Margie, who is my mommy and my friend, and her jungle kitty Spooky.

Debbie Manber Kupfer: In memory of Cici and Snowy.

DM Rasch: For the real Mandy and Harley: Teen Kittens, WTH? forever <3

Table of Contents

Introduction

Fate by Stephanie Barr

Mother's Cat by Jane Jago

Bumblecat by Stephanie Barr

Adventure Kitty by Stephanie Barr

Little Snoop by Donna Marie West

Death Stalks by Stephanie Barr

Bad Luck by Stephanie Barr

Cat Got Your Tongue by Lily Luchesi

Poe's Kitten by Stephanie Barr

Sparkles Pancake's Scary Night by Stephanie Barr

The Night Cat by Jane Jago

Lily's Big Adventure by Stephanie Barr

Tiger the Tom by Stephanie Barr

Practical Magic by DM Rasch

Night of the Cat by Stephanie Barr

Zombie Master by Stephanie Barr

The Nine Ghosts of Buttons by Ken Goudsward

Dria in the Shadow Realm by Stephanie Barr

Gypsy's Night by Stephanie Barr

I Want to Travel to the Stars by F Stephan

Princess MacKenzie by Stephanie Barr

Little Lamb by Stephanie Barr

Tiger, Tiger by Debbie Manber Kupfer

Protection of Shadows by Stephanie Barr

Special Magic by Stephanie Barr

Little Blind Cat by RC Larlham

Angel Kitty by Stephanie Barr

About the Authors and Illustrators

Introduction by Stephanie Barr

I love cats. Cats are in all my books, most of my stories, and some of my poetry. This is not the first cat story compilation I've put together. I'm also putting together another anthology of cat stories, Catstruck, in November of 2021. However, when I saw this cover created by Jocelyn Dex, I fell in love. I thought, wouldn't it be great to write stories specifically for children, focused on Halloween, and featuring cats in key roles? My Halloween-loving friend's daughter was born in October so I decided to dedicate this book to her for her birthday.

Cats are amazing, and not just for Halloween. Cats effortlessly walk that fine line between soft, cuddly creatures that nurture and vicious, dangerous beasts. That is what makes them so amazing and why I'm so proud of this collection of unusual stories with cats playing the pivotal roles. As the bulwark against the evil spirits, auras, and scary things, cats are ideal.

Yet, in some cases, cats can be something else entirely…

By Jocelyn Dex

And no one appreciates this duality nor embraces it like children.

All proceeds from this book will be donated to St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

You are encouraged to contribute directly as well: https://www.stjude.org/donate/donate-to-st-jude.html

However, my contributors and I are including links for local animal shelters and rescues that you are welcome to support as well, not just in the US but in Europe, so feel free to donate to them or your favorite animal charity.

Forgotten Felines of Texas (https://forgottenfelinestx.org/wordpress/)

Friends of LCAS (https://FriendsofLeagueCityAnimalShelter.org)

Adopt a Cat Incorporated (https://www.facebook.com/AdoptACatInc/)

MEOW Cat Rescue (https://meowcatrescue.org/giving/)

Jersey Kitty Rescue Network (https://jerseykitty.org)

Tenth Life Cat Rescue (https://www.tenthlifecats.org/)

Royce-Hurst Humane Society (https://rhhumanesociety.org/)

Have you ever been spooked?

Scared?

Felt out of place?

Felt lost?

Lose yourself in these tales of danger and spirits, ghosts and zombies, and of course…cats.

Three times three stories for you.

With cats as protectors.

Cats in danger,

And stories where cats are the most dangerous things of all...

Fate

by Stephanie Barr

My two foster kitties that I've now adopted protect me from everything, including medical equipment, so I wrote a story about them.

Charlotte was pulling out bags from the grocery and trudging to her new old house when she heard a little squeak.

Was it a mouse? The yard was still a tangle of weeds and overgrown roses. She wasn't afraid of mice, but it was easier to feel that was true when she wasn't confronted with one. On the other hand, she'd rather confront it outside than find it running across her feet in her home. She set the bags on her porch and started to search.

Mew.

That almost sounded like a kitten but how could a kitten be here? She went around the side of her house peering but not getting too close to the overgrown rose bushes then drifted closer to the wrought iron fence that surrounded the half acre that came with the little house. She'd walked along the one side and the front when she spotted a splash of pink past another bush. When she got there, she realized someone had set an apparently new cat bed on the ground, one of those that looked like a big pink pillow someone had hollowed out so animals could sleep in it.

What was it doing sitting against the outside of her fence? As she approached, she heard the Mew again and two kittens, one black, one brown tabby, padded out to her, squeaking for attention.

Charlotte looked around for the owner, but the street was deserted. No person. No car. It was June, brutally hot, and someone had left two kittens in the middle of nowhere, more or less. Abandoned with a useless cat bed.

She swallowed her anger and squatted down as the kittens milled around her feet, crying. She wondered if they'd run or swat at her, but, when she reached out, she could pick both up easily, one in either hand. They were just babies though their eyes were open.

They were clean, but skinny. She picked them up and took them inside, set them up in her bathroom with a towel while she went back to the store for kitten food, dishes, and a litterbox.

Locking the kittens in a bathroom turned out to be ineffective. Somehow, within hours, they'd be free and wandering around, poking into corners. When they found her, whether sitting at her desk on the computer or curled up on the couch in front of the television or sitting in her own bathroom, taking a bath, the kittens would cry for attention and wouldn't stop until she picked them up and cuddled them.

It must be fate, Charlotte decided. She named the kittens Kismet—black male—and Karma—tabby girl—and got used to having them always underfoot.

Charlotte worked from home and focused easily on her work. However, after a few days, she started to notice odd behavior in her new cats.

She'd hear a clicking she couldn't identify. When she got up and tracked it down, she'd hear, over the clicking, a low keen. It was eerie and she had to force herself to continue. Every time, she'd trace it back to her bedroom and find her new kittens, eyes solid black, staring at some point in the corner next to her bed. They'd be puffed up, hissing. Clearly, they were upset with something, but, when she looked, there was nothing there.

Spooky.

She noticed it first on Wednesday. Then, again on Thursday. Twice on Friday.

The kittens would climb up on her bed with her, snuggle with her, but, sometimes in the night, she thought she'd waken to hear them caterwauling at the wall, though she never woke up fully.

Charlotte told herself it was just a quirk. Maybe they heard something outside? Maybe it was a kitten thing they would outgrow.

And yet, some part of her was disturbed. She would still feed and care for the cats, pet them if they came to her, but she wouldn't hold them for long if they wanted it, found herself shooing them out. She stopped going to her bedroom when she heard them in there. Started locking her door at night with them on the other side.

By Knixolate Bar (originally published in Pussycats Galore)

But, every morning, they were in there, on her bed. Sometimes hissing and keening at the empty corner. It was as if the door didn't exist.

They were so cute, so sweet. She loved them so much she couldn't imagine giving them up. And yet, they frightened her, too. She asked the vet about it when she was taking them to get shots and fixed.

Who knows? the vet said. Cats have excellent hearing. Perhaps they hear something scary outside?

Maybe, Charlotte thought. But if it was something outside, why always the same corner?

Charlotte found herself avoiding the kittens, found herself distracted during work, wondering what they were doing, if they might be looking at her with their eyes full of black and their voices angry. Menacing.

After two weeks, after she had heard them clicking and complaining at the corner at least five times, Charlotte fetched them up, wearing gloves, and tucked them into their bathroom and locked it. Then she went to bed and locked her bedroom door. She listened for the kittens, for their soft paws, for the feel of them walking over her body. For the sound of their cries against the corner.

Finally, she fell into an exhausted sleep.

When she woke, it was fully, her heart pounding in her ears, her throat constricted to where she couldn't breathe or scream.

She scraped at her throat and found what felt like icy cold fingers there, choking the life out of her. Her eyes searched the darkness for the cause. Above her, a face, palely blue in the moonlight from the window, leered down at her. A choked throat, raspy and weak, said, You're alone at last. The face got closer and she saw it was swollen, eyes black holes in the face, a tongue protruding from the lips. Around the neck was a length of rope knotted, the neck marked below it. Now, you'll end like me.

Charlotte fought like a mad woman, scratching and bucking her body, but she couldn't break free or dig her nails into the spectral hands at her throat. I'm going to die, she thought. Then oddly, who will take care of the kittens?

As if her thoughts summoned them, two furry missiles slammed into the ghost above her, screaming and flailing with tiny claws. Somehow, their claws caused tears and slashes on the vision Charlotte could see, as if their claws had a magic Charlotte's nails did not have. They bit and spit, clawed and slashed.

The pressure on Charlotte's windpipe lessened and then disappeared. She scuttled away, feeling at her bruised neck, trying to choke out a scream as her baby kittens fought like wild animals, tearing through whatever it was with brutal power.

With a cry, the ghost, monster, whatever it was, howled its frustration, its pain, and then exploded into a million pieces.

The kittens both landed lightly on the bed, then scurried over to Charlotte, mewing for attention and pets. Charlotte, weeping in relief, pet them and loved on them, cuddled them and thanked them. She got up to get them some canned food, cooed and praised them, and then picked them up to carry them back to her bed, setting them carefully against her. And slept.

In the morning, her neck was visibly bruised. She got on the internet and found out that a woman who had lived there for years had hung herself in that room forty years previously. There had been several owners for the house in the years since, but none had lived